Samenvatting

With the growing economic importance of sport in the past two decades there has been a massive increase in the investment of money in the football sector, and some of this has criminal connections. The FATF has carried out a study, Money laundering through the football sector, to analyze what makes the football sector attractive to criminals. The report examines case studies to identify vulnerabilities of the football sector for criminal money. Some of those relate to the financial fragilities of the sector as a whole. Other vulnerabilities involve the intransparant transfer market and the dubious role of football agents. There are also social-psychological vulnerabilities. Football has a long history of private individuals investing in clubs. These individuals do not expect profits, but hope to acquire prestige and gain access to the local or even national establishment. Football has changed from a popular sport into a global industry, but its regulatory structure has not yet caught up with these changes.